Obstacles
by Coco The Rabbit
Summary: It had been a few years after both Team Aqua's and Magma's team had been defeated. When Maxie comes to Archie one day, offering to go to a contest to see a rising contest star with a new pokemon, he felt as if there was nothing better to do. Their worlds are turned upside down from this little contest scamp requests for a battle after she wins...
1. Chapter 1: Battle Request

"Maxie, what's the point in going to a pansy contest?" Archie looked around as everyone gathered, chattering with their tickets. Although Maxie kept a calm composure Archie could feel his excitement and it somewhat irritated him. He was supposed to be a grown man and here he was getting excited over some contest idol!  
"I heard Lisia is here with Ali and is actually competing!" Archie overheard an older man nearby say excitidly.  
"Yeah, but she's competing against the new rising idol. What was her name, Emi?" At the mention of the name Archie could feel Maxie's excitement rise up more, but he cleared his throat.  
"Supposedly this "Emi" has a new pokemon nobody has ever seen before and she's been using it for contests. I wish to observe it and see what it truly is." His voice trailed off as the room grew silent and a door closed. Both Archie and Maxie turned to look at a little girl that had entered the hall. She had long curly auburn hair and the brightest of blue eyes. She had frozen when the crowd stopped, looking embarrassed. She was dressed for the unnatural cold weather, a blue and white scarf, dark red jacket with a white frilly skirt.  
"U-Um... hello.." She gave a tiny smile and waved her small hand, then she hurried to the counter.  
"... You mean she's the reason were here?! She's just a little scamp!" Archie said a bit too loudly. The whole room stopped and glared at Archie and Maxie, but the girl, Emi, had scurried into the back.  
"You dolt! Don't speak so loudly! I swear you're a child..." Maxie almost looked embarrassed... The room went back into a soft chatter.  
"You're the child! Coming to see a contest... Just to watch a little girl run around in a dress. This is stupid. I'm leaving." As Archie turned to walk away, he ran right into a girl. She was tall with half shaven hair, the other half being long and straightened. She stumbled back but caught herself, huffing angrily at Archie.  
"Someone wants to see you in the green room.." She mumbled. She looked annoyed but what could you expect of her. Maxie gave Archie a; "I could kill you" glare but then huffed.  
"I'm heading on. I suppose you can leave.. After all, this sort of thing isn't for children." With that he turned and walked off to enter the hall. Archie grumbled, tempted to just leave and not even bother going to the green room but the snarky scamp in front of him wasn't going to make that an option... So he sighed and went to the green room.  
"These rooms always confuse me. Why are they called green rooms when they aren't even green." He caught a look at himself in the mirror and frowned. When he was about to leave, 20 minutes early, Maxie had called as if on cue.  
"Don't you dare wear that tacky wetsuit." It was an order and there was no room for a comeback since he had hung up... Archie then had dressed in a black jacket, white t-shirt underneath and black pants. Obviously he wasn't leaving without his anchor necklace, or his Team Aqua bandana. He didn't look bad though. He laughed to himself.  
"Like I could look bad." He stepped into the green room and froze. There were tons of people in there, all surrounded by a girl in a chair. There seemed to be only one person who was supposed to be there and she was doing Emi's hair.  
This shy little scamp was dressed in a long flowing white dress that stopped short at the front but was insanely long in the back. When she stood up to shoo the others away he was almost surprised that this was the same girl. The dress was completely white except for a vivid pink jewel at the front, connecting the jacket with the dress. The dress had a large diamond chunk gone. From the jewel to about above her belly button you could see her skin. It didn't show any cleavage though. She had on a big white bow at the back of her hair. She was just exuding confidence and Archie had to do a double take just to make sure it was really her.  
The dress flew back just a bit as she stepped towards him and Archie noticed that the inside was purple and full of a star like design.  
"I wanted to ask you something..." Her voice was soft and sweet. Archie looked at her closely. To be honest he expected her to be young but in all honesty she was probably 18 or so. She was short.. "I wanted to ask if... I wanted to know that if I end up winning this contest.. could we battle?" It was a strange request and it caught Archie off guard, but he grinned. He couldn't resist a battle!  
"I'll battle you whether you win or lose, little scamp!" Emi blinked and it took a lot to not make herself look competitive. She smiled and nodded.  
"I'll look forward to it." With that the person doing Emi's hair made some remark on her needing to get ready and Archie took that as a cue to leave. He was suddenly excited to see this contest to the end. It wasn't everyday he got to win a battle!


	2. Chapter 2: Beauty Contest

Chapter 2: Beauty Contest  
Archie looked around at the top of the steps once entering the actual hall. IT was full of people.  
"Where to find a red haired nerd.." He mumbled to himself before spotting Maxie not too far away. Luckily there were plenty of seats around him.  
"I thought you left." Maxie didn't even look at him. He was looking at some pamphlet with Emi on the cover.  
"Yeah, well. I was offered a battle after this show so I decided to stick around for that." Maxie just rolled his eyes and closed the pamphlet as the lights dimmed. A very energetic girl stood on the stage, dressed in a frilly dress and holding a microphone. She started talking about the contestants and about who was competing and with what pokemon. She seemed to falter at Emi and then grew even more excited.  
"And the last contestant is the rising star, Emi Koizumi with her rumored new Pokemon, Paku!" THe girl giggled and then hurried off stage. The people seated around Archie and Maxie whispered something, but mostly; 'I'm sure LIsia will win." They seemed to be her fan club.  
The contest was a beauty one. Teh first two contestants weren't really into it. Although their pokemon were beautiful they didn't quite put much effort into the moves. One had a Milotic that was beautiful to the crowd, but the moves used didn't show off beauty at all. And they were plain if they even remotely did. The waterfall move was beautiful on it's own but by itself it didn't show much creativity.  
Archie sighed, glancing away. Maxie was mumbling to himself on how awful they did for the contest. It was getting annoying.  
The next contestant was a Bellossum. They did a bit more to add appeal but not much. It didn't look like it was supposed to be beautiful. The bellossum had used a sweet scent move before mixing the pink aura with magical leaf. It was better than the plain Milotic but it was more cute than anything.  
"I didn't even think you were that into contests." Archie glanced towards Maxie who didn't show any shred of embarrassment, although he had to of been.  
"I catch it on tv every now and then." He muttered. Archie glanced towards the stage as the Bellossum and girl left. Next was Lisia. Even Archie who didn't pay attention to contests knew who she was. Although he didn't know that her main pokemon was an Altaria.  
Her act was far more impressive than the rest. It even got Archie's attention. She had started off witha mist that shrouded the whole hall. The whole arena was full of anticipation as the stage was blocked and the duo was hidden.  
A light suddenly form at the center of the arena and a pink glow from above sifted through the mist, completely eradicating it and making the whole area glow and sparkle. You could see the droplets of water just hanging there... Suddenly there was an even brighter light as a harsh wind and light blew away the mist, and standing on the stage, looking elegant and... certainly poofy was a just mega'd Altaria, it's feathers glistening from the mist that had formed around it. It shook itself and lifted it's wings as if in triumph and the whole arena burst into a loud cheer.  
"It wasn't that impressive." Maxie muttered. "She's holding back." As Maxie muttered this, Lisia sashayed off the stage with Ali and the very bouncy girl from before came back to announce the last, but certainly not least performance. The little scamp from before came on stage. The lights shining down on her and the gown flowing behind, she looked older. Maxie gave a sort of huff.  
"At least she actually took the part to look beautiful..." And he was right. The others had half assed their outfits, wearing every day outfits or so. LIsia was the only one who seemed to make an effort and hers didn't really even seem to match the category. Emi's was... gorgeous. She even had long gloves on with the same type of diamond that was connecting the dress with the jacket on the wrists. She lifted her hand up and the crowd grew silent as she then gave a curtsey and up on her head.. appeared a little fluff ball. It climbed onto her head, resting all four paws to keep balance. It was a purple and white big eared cat like pokemon. It looked like it belong to an eeveelution, and definitely not powerful. It's ears had triangle like gold marks on them and it had a diamond mark on it's forehead. IT sure was fluffy. Fur was coming out of it's ears even, and it had three very long tails. And it had wings.  
Archie leaned over to whisper to Maxie.  
"What in the world do you think that is?"  
"I dunno. But it certainly isn't what I imagined." Maxie looked dissapointed, but Emi smiled and began the show. She lifted her hand up high and the little pokemon, "Paku" scurried up it and suddenly the diamond mark on it's forehead, and the diamonds on Emi's outfit glowed as well. It was a vivid pink. Suddenly little crystals started to form in the air. They were small and floated around at first, but gradually grew bigger the closer they got to the stage.  
Maxie reached forward and grabbed a bigger one closer to him, but flinched and pulled his hand back.  
"What on earth.."  
He didn't have time to really evaluate what the little shock was, because all attention was brought to the front as Paku jumped up and a colorful wind blew around it. The wind traveled through the hall and twirled the crystals around the audience. Children laughed as the crystals twirled and danced in the air, but then a vivid light shone from them all, blinding everyone.  
"I can't see!" Archie couldn't help but yell as he covered his eyes.  
"Uncover your eyes, dolt." Maxie nudged Archie. Archie opened his eyes to see that all the crystals in the air had frozen, and a chill was hanging in the air... And at the center of the stage, the mystical wind blowing around her was Emi.. Standing on top of an elegant tower made of ice. The tower was thin and branched out into an almost abstract design. She smiled at the crowd. Paku had landed on her head, the gems had glowed so brightly...  
Emi then held out her hand a bright bow that seemed to be made of pure light appeared in her hand. It was entrancing. She looked like some sort of goddess... It was different than the others. The othe contestants had seemed to use their pokemon to do the beauty making, while she was working with her pokemon to make the show absolutely beautiful. Archie could hear Maxie mumble something, but he wasn't paying attention as Emi drew back the bow of light, and tons of arrows appeared in it's hold...  
The crowd seemed to panic a bit as they realized what was going on, but before any of them could voice their worry, Emi shouted something in a different language and let go of the arrows.


	3. Chapter 3: Gems

The next thing was absolutely stunning, it even gave Archie goosebumps. The arrows of light seemed to know exactly what to hit and not to hit. They hit every single one of the gems, both small and large and dissapeared in a flutter of light before hitting people. The frozen gems hanging in the air before had shattered into a beautiful sparkle, and it filled the whole hall. Everyone was amazed into silence before erupting into a huge applause.  
Emi smiled shyly, then cautiously gave a short curtsey. Paku, who was still on her head, copied her movements into curtseying. Suddenly though, her body swayed and before anyone could even notice, she was falling off of her ice tower and to the ground below. The crowd gasped, but a fluffy blur caught her mid air and Lisia stepped onto stage.  
"Don't worry folks!" She called, smiling at the still shining particles in the air. "She's fine, just tired! The winner will be announced in 10 minutes!" And with that the lights dimmed on the stage. A few adults complained nearby about the wait, but kids ran to the aisle and started playing in the floating glitters.  
Archie was a bit peeved. Obviously the little scamp had won. What was the point in waiting.  
"So an ice type... but also looked kind of like a fairy..." Maxie was mumbling to himself. "But it had qualities of a psychic type...? What an amazing pokemon... And that bow of light. That seemed unnatural."  
"Maybe it's some sort of new legendary." Archie had put his two cents in but Maxie waved him off and leaned back in his chair with his hand on his chin, in his thinking mode. Archie just sighed and got out of his chair and made his way to the green room.  
It was quieter than before, the only people in there at the moment was a bouncy Lisia who was talking in a fast paced voice, the same snarky scamp from before who gave him a dissapproving look as he walked in, and Emi was sitting in a chair looking worn out. She glanced up weakly as he stepped in. She was pale, but gave him a smile.  
"Hey. I'm surprised you actually stayed. Normally when I ask for a battle people forget... Sure, Lexie's fun to battle but it gets a tad dull with her.." The snarky scamp, Lexie, huffed but just rolled her eyes, struggling to hide a smile. "What's your name?" Lisia fell silent and glanced towards Emi, and then Archie as she realized nobody was paying attention to her compliments.  
"... My name's Archie." He mumbled, suddenly feeling a bit self concious as all eyes were on him. He then noticed something strange about Emi's outfit and couldn't help but comment on it. "Oy, your outfit. Did it break or something?" He pointed towards her dress. The once vivid pink crystals that decorated it had shattered and dulled in color. She frowned and then looked at Paku who was sitting on the make up desk. The little pokemon gave a small worried noise and tilted it's head as Emi rubbed it's head.  
"Paku is a very unique pokemon... Her energy is connected to mine and vice versa. When we're working as one we're able to do so much.." She then stood and looked at Archie. She opened her mouth to say something but just then the bubbly announcer's voice boomed through the speakers.  
"And we're back to announce the winner of this contest!" Lisia grinned at Emi who just gave a weak smile. "And the winner iisssss~" There was a pause, although it was obvious who won and when her name was announced the crowd burst into an applause and Emi sighed.  
"Yay!" Lexie, who had been mostly silent ran up to Emi and gave her a half hug before quickly pulling away and Archie noticed that she looked a tad embarrassed but it fade quickly. "There wasn't a doubt you couldn't win though. You and Paku are brilliant."  
"Thanks.." Emi smiled and then went off to accept her ribbon. Lisia followed after, chattering a bunch, leaving Archie alone with Lexie...  
The room was enveloped in an awkward silence, neither one of them felt comfortable saying anything to each other.. Finally Archie gave a small sigh and started walking out.  
"We'll battle outside." He said before leaving. Lexie would've stopped him but to be honest she was a bit glad that the tense and awkward silence had ended and she sat down in the chair Emi was in just before...


	4. Chapter 4: A Shocking Battle

As Archie stepped outside it took all of his willpower to repress a shiver. It had been unnaturally cold lately, especially for tropical Hoenn... Tv stations had gone on nonstop about how weird it was and blamed the pollution. Some were willing to bet it was a new and hidden pokemon but that was hard to swallow. Weather stations were starting to give a chance of snow. Archie hadn't seen snow since he was just a lad, and he wasn't even in Hoenn at the time. It would've been bizzare and he hated to admit, even scary if it snowed.  
His mind had shifted to Paku. He hadn't heard of this thing until the temperature started to drop, and it did specialize in ice...  
"I wonder...-" He was cut off as a small voice interrupted him.  
"Wonder what?" Archie jumped and turned quickly to see Emi, dressed in the same clothes as before. She smiled at Archie's surprise and Archie had to look away to not show he was embarrassed.  
"Um.. Just the weather..." He mumbled faintly.  
"It has been quite bizarre." Maxie's voice immediately got on Archie's nerves. He looked up to see Maxie and Lexie walking towards them.  
"What are you doing here?!"  
"I'm quite curious to see this pokemon in battle." He mumbled, looking at Paku who was sitting on Emi's shoulder. Emi smiled, struggling to voice what she was trying to say. She faltered a bit and looked away, looking even more embarrassed.  
"She doesn't use Paku for battles." Lexie filled in what Emi couldn't say. "Archie's heard it but you haven't. Paku and Emi have to be connected to be able to use energy. It's why she fainted at the contest. She used too much too soon. Battling would take even more."  
"Oh." Maxie sounded dissapointed. "Well then, it can't be helped."  
"You can hold her though." Emi took Paku in her hands and before Maxie could refuse put her in his. Maxie frowned at the little creature that looked up at him...  
"... It's cold." He muttered and then handed her to Lexie. "I don't like the cold all that much."  
"Is that why you're dressed in like, 6 layers." Lexie had taken Paku and set her on her shoulder. "It's chilly but it's not that cold." She mumbled, then moved closer to Maxie to move Paku closer, although she blushed and looked away. Maxie immediately took advantage of Lexie's hospitality and began observing Paku, mumbling to himself as he did.  
"Anyway... Enough of that." Emi smiled and then stepped back. Archie couldn't help but noticed her elegant and confident steps. She didn't fumble or sway at all, and her hand moved and grabbed a pokeball hanging from her bag.  
"Finally! Now this is going to be the fun part." Archie readied his pokemon. He wasn't much of a planner like Maxie, he was just more interested in the thrill of the fight, win or lose! Although he hoped he could win against a frilly contest star...

The battle had been short and swift, barely lasting 15 minutes as Emi's Raichu completely wrecked through Archie's whole team. She hadn't even switched out at all, there was no need. Emi giggled as she rubbed Raichu's head and it nuzzled into her.  
"Sorry!" Emi smiled apologetically at Archie, although her Raichu's cheeks sparked with triumph. "I may of told a bit of a lie!~"  
"M-My whole team... destroyed by a frilly contest scamp!"  
"Even I could of predicted that." Maxie was still observing Paku. "She had the aura of a champion." He mumbled. He had a notepad out now, sketching Paku with detail.  
"Hah! I knew she'd be able to beat you easily. She can even beat me easily." Lexie had jerked which caused Maxie to give an annoyed sigh and he gave her an annoyed look.  
"How is that impressive." He muttered, putting away the notepad.  
"I'm the champion." As the words left Lexie's mouth both Archie and Maxie froze and stared at Lexie in silence. The only noice coming from Emi and her Raichu.  
"You're the champion?! I thought it was that Rock dude?"  
"I beat him awhile ago. Then Emi came and beat me after that, but she said she was more interested in the contests rather than being champion, so I kept the title."  
Archie pouted but then sighed, kneeling down next to Emi.  
"What other pokemon do you got?" Emi perked at the mention of it, but her Raichu fumed, not liking how close Archie sat. As Emi started to go into detail about her pokemon team and when and where she got them, small flakes started to fall from the sky. Paku was the first one to notice and made a loud cry of happiness as it floated in the air to play with the flakes. Emi stopped talking as she noticed the white flakes and stood up.  
Emi and Lexie glanced towards each other and shared a look of worry, then they looked at Paku who seemed so excited about the snow...


	5. Chapter 5: Origin Stories

Archie stood in front the cave his base was at, feeling uneasy... He wasn't quite ready to leave Emi and Lexie, but he wasn't sure how to invite himself without sounding like a creep. He was also irked because Maxie was with them at that moment.  
"'I wanna observe Paku a bit more.'" Archie grumbled in a mocking voice as he went into the base, shivering. The snowfall was still going, and picking up speed. "And I had no excuse to stay.." He mumbled.  
"Archie?" Shelly glanced up as Archie entered one of the labs. She had heard him grumbling and was curious about what.  
"What? Nothing." He looked up at the screen that showed a submarine. "What are you doing."  
"Devon Corporation contacted us asking if we could test something for them." She said, turning the screen off and glancing away. "How was the contest?"  
"It was okay." Archie mumbled, moving to a machine that would heal his pokemon. "It was... actually really cool." He mumbled more to himself, remembering Emi's performance. "And uh.." He glanced at Shelly to make sure she didn't hear that, then continued to speak. "I battled someone."  
"Oh?" Shelly glanced towards the computer she was working on and minimized whatever was on the screen before continuing with her next question. "With who?" Archie frowned at Shelly, feeling a bit suspicious but he just shrugged it off and started to explain the contest and the cute shy girl who turned elegant and powerful in less than an hour.  
"Wow. I haven't heard you talk about something so passionately since Kyogre." Shelly muttered, and if Archie was a bit smarter he would've been able to hear the jealousy laced in her voice.  
Archie glanced away as his face grew hot. "It's.. not necessarily like that..." He muttered. "It's just... It's just that scamp's full of surprises..." He finally managed to say and then went to one of the teleportation panels. "Is Matt in his room? I'm gonna see if he'll work out with me."  
"Yeah.." Shelly muttered, and when Archie left she went back to what she was working on before.  
"Thank you.." Maxie refrained from sniffling as he accepted the hot mug from Emi. He was sitting on a beanbag chair in her secret base, which she used as a home, and it was pretty cozy. She had a table, a living area, a bedroom, and she even had a bathroom and kitchen installed... Although he was a tad creeped out by the amount of stuffed pokemon around.  
Maxie repositioned himself in the bean bag chair. It was the only form of sitting Emi had. He felt ridiculous sitting in the pink and white thing... Paku sat on the table, handling her own little mug.  
"Why didn't Archie wanna come?" Emi muttered as she sat on the bean bag on the other side of the table. Lexie was sitting on the one next to Maxie.  
"He probably didn't know how to ask." Maxie muttered and sipped the warm hot tea in the mug. He enjoyed the burn of the liquid as it warmed his body, although the steam had fogged up his glasses.  
After setting his mug down and cleaning his glasses, he looked at Paku and then Emi.  
"Where did you find it anyway?"  
"Her." The sharpness in Emi's voice caught Maxie a bit off guard, but he cleared his voice and corrected his mistake.  
"Where did you find... her?" He glanced towards Paku who stuck its tongue out at him.  
"Well, it was right before I was about to go on Victory Road." She glanced towards the little pokemon as she began her story. "I had just got off the phone with Lexie and I guess I took the wrong way, and then I ended up tripping and falling into this weird cave... Paku was in there, frozen solid. I was so amazed but the second I stepped in, it's like the cave grew so warm and Paku woke up. After that she kind of just followed me and here we are." She looked embarrassed. She knew her explanation wasn't that good, but she then pulled out a bracelet with a vivid pink crystal on it.  
"It was a little weird, but I tried using Paku in battles, but it wasn't working at all. After awhile Paku gave me this and I thought it was pretty so I wore it. After that all of Paku's moves started to work, but I found out I got really weak and tired after we fought in a battle."  
"That's strange..." Maxie reached forward and took the bracelet from Emi and wrote down in his notes about it.  
"We took it to Steven." Lexie continued the explanation, although her voice wavered into admiration as she spoke about him. "He wasn't able to identify it, sadly, but after a few a few more tests we figured out that the gems sucked away a person's energy."  
"Huh..." Maxie continued writing. A pokemon that used a human's energy to battle and attack... That was both fascinating and horrifying. He glanced towards Lexie, then at Emi.  
"... So you two knew each other before battling?" He closed his notebook and handed Emi back her bracelet. He was still curious, but it didn't really seem like they knew everything either.  
"Mmh!" Emi seemed both relieved and excited at the subject change. "We met in Kalos when I moved there and have been friends ever since~" She smiled brightly.  
"You came from Kalos?" Maxie had heard rumors of this region but had never really been interested in going or learning more about it.  
"Actually, I came from Kalos." Lexie interrupted Emi. "She came from a smaller region. What was it called.. Almia?"  
"Never heard of it." Maxie was almost annoyed at his lack of knowledge about this region.  
"It's not too famous." She mumbled. "It's mostly known for having the best Ranger School, but that's about it. My mom and dad are Pokemon Rangers, but I wasn't too interested in that. So I went to live with Uncle Sycamore. Me and Lexie sort of started our pokemon journey together in Kalos. She was faster than me, but I still beat her." Emi gave Lexie a look, to which Lexie just rolled her eyes.  
"Anyway." Emi took a sip of her tea. "I heard about contests and thought they sounded fun, so I moved to Hoenn. I don't have any relatives here, so I just slept in inns as I traveled, but as soon as I learned about Secret Bases and could fly I decided to live here." She huffed, leaning back in her chair. Maxie noticed that she lost her breath easily...  
"I followed." Lexie mumbled. "Because I uh... was wanting to challenge the champion..."  
"Don't lie." Emi grinned at her best friend. "You were just gonna miss me!" Before anyone could react, Lexie tossed a Swablu doll at her friend.  
"You wish." Lexie smiled and then stretched. The tv in the background was going on about the weather. Everyone was freaking out about the weather and what it meant for Hoenn. Maxie oculdn't help but look at Paku... If his hypothises was true, he believed that Paku was the reason why the weather had turned cold.. Although he wasn't going to voice it without pure evidence. He wouldn't want to ruin Emi's nice hospitality by blaming her pokemon for weather changes.  
"Anyway..." He stood up, pulling his jacket on. "I should be going now. I'm sure everyone is wondering where I've gone."  
"Aww.." Emi frowned and stood up. "It was fun talking to you though! You and Archie." She grinned and walked up to Maxie, handing him the diamond bracelet. "You can have this if you want. Paku always gives me them." Maxie frowned, but took the small gift anyway.  
"Thank you... I'll be leaving now." He glanced towards Lexie and gave a small nod before leaving the base, into the cold snow.  
"You better come to my next contest!" She shouted after him and then went back to her seat. "... He was cute." She smiled at Lexie who just blushed and looked away.  
"Not really.." She muttered angrily but Emi just laughed and switched the tv to some cartoon.


End file.
